Bolter Brady advances to Open 4th round

Elena Vesnina, the 14th seed, has been eliminated from the Australian Open by American qualifier Jennifer Brady.

Brady, the world No.116, was the first woman to reach the round of 16 on Saturday with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 win in 85 minutes.

The powerful 22-year-old hit 10 aces in the third-round match-up as Vesnina imploded with 39 unforced errors on show court two.

In her first major tournament, Brady has won as many matches as anyone else at Melbourne Park, tallying three main-draw successes after qualifying with three victories last week.

“It feels amazing,” she said on Saturday.

“Coming here, being in the qualifying, I didn’t expect to, you know, make it all the way until the second week.

“One of my goals in the next couple of years was to be playing in the second week of a grand slam. I sat down and had that discussion with my coaches and, you know, the rest of my team a couple months ago.

“I wrote it down and … I said it, but I didn’t say it confidently.”

Brady has also earned at least $220,000 for her efforts in Melbourne, which almost doubles her career prizemoney.

The result ensures at least one unseeded woman will reach the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park.

World no.79 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni will be Brady’s opponent in the fourth round, the Croatian defeating Greek Maria Sakkari 3-6 6-2 6-3.

Lucic-Baroni hit 30 more winners than Sakkari, impressively overturning a set deficit in one hour and 48 minutes.

Barbora Strycova also joined the pair in the fourth round.

The Czech veteran and 16th seed repeated her best performance at the Open, achieved last year, with a 6-2 7-5 defeat of Frenchwoman and 21st seed Caroline Garcia.

Like Vesnina, Garcia was error-strewn, making 35 unforced errors and saving just one of five break points.

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